


There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.

by ermengarde



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Weechesters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-24
Updated: 2008-05-24
Packaged: 2017-11-26 02:04:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ermengarde/pseuds/ermengarde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a big Halloween fayre up at their school and Sammy's been pestering Dean about it for ages. With John away hunting Hell Hounds Dean doesn't see what harm it could do... and anyway there's this girl...</p>
            </blockquote>





	There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.

“I don’t know how the hell I let you talk me into this Sammy. Dad’s totally going to rip me a new one if he finds out…”

“He’s not _gonna_ find out Dean.”

“Yeah, cause nothing’s ever gone wrong with one of your plans…”

Sammy pouted slightly and looked up at his brother with his best pleading expression. “But you _promised_. And anyway you want the candy just as much as I do.”

Dean huffed out a sigh, adjusting his gun in its holster. “Yeah, yeah.” He looked at his watch. “Okay little brother, it’s half past six now, and we’re leaving at eight so you’re home before bedtime – get as much candy as you can and remember to say thank you.”

Sammy glared up at his big brother. Dean was so _annoying_ even if he did look really cool in his costume. “I _know_ Dean. I’ll meet you at the gate, okay?” He saw his friend Jamie standing over by the apple bob and with one last _I know Dean_ look at his big brother, he ran over to join his little gang of friends.

***

Dean watched Sammy greet the tribe of little boys he hung around with. More or less ever since they’d moved here Sammy had been all “ _Jamie Rustch says…_ ” or “ _Jamie’s Mom doesn’t ever make spaghettios, she says you need to eat vegetables_ ”. Now, with Dad off hunting Hell Hounds, the amazing Jamie had managed to get Sammy so worked up about the school’s Halloween celebration -“ _It’s going to be so good Dean…the parents are setting up lots of games to win candy and everyone’s going to be all dressed up…_ ” - that he’d gone on and on and on about it until Dean had finally given in and told him that yeah, okay, they’d go as long as Sammy sorted out the costumes.

Sammy had been busy all week, using half their duct tape in his endeavors and cannibalizing most of the last bag of clothes that Pastor Jim had given them. Just as well Dad had left it up to Dean to sort those out… He had to admit, though, that Sammy had done a pretty good job. Dean’s costume was kinda kickass – even included a holster for his gun - and he was looking forward to seeing what Elise thought of him.

Ah… Elise. She’d said something about a bunny outfit and he was hoping it’d be more of the playboy and less of the fun-fur feet. He shook his head a little to clear _that_ image and looked around to find out where the particular group _he_ wanted to hang with was located.

***

Sammy knew his costume was cool – okay, maybe not as cool as Jamie’s Joker costume, but Jamie’s Mom was really really clever and good at that kinda thing. Dean was nearly as good as a Mom most of the time (better really because he never made Sammy eat nasty vegetables) but he didn’t have a box of stuff for costumes and he had to go to school so he didn’t have as much time to spend on making things. Sammy grinned, his _Batman_ costume was pretty awesome really and he was going to get so _much_ candy.

***

Dean had made his way to the far side of the field, under the bleachers, and was comfortably leaning against one of the supporting pillars, taking a draw from one of Josh’s pilfered cigarettes; arm round a very accommodating, slightly chilled bunny-girl. Apparently the fun-fur on her Rabbit ears wasn’t quite enough to keep her warm…

Dean grinned; there were some things that were better than candy and he kinda hoped to try some of them with Elise, a little later on.

***

There was so much to _do_! Sammy was sure an hour and a half would never be long enough, but he was determined to get as much booty as he possibly could. The apple bob was a bit lame – no candy – but Sammy was really really good at it. He could hold his breath longer than anyone else in the whole _world_ (except maybe Dean and Dad) but there was a haunted house (or, well, trailer, but still… Sammy wondered if he should maybe have brought his rock salt but Dean had been over the whole place before they left school and said there was nothing to worry about) and lots of games involving pennies and ducks and things.

***

“Dean, maybe we could take a walk? Over to the big tree maybe?”

Dean’s grin threatened to split his face in two. Maybe they’d even get a little further than first base…

“Sure Elise, that’d be nice.” He smiled at her and tucked his jacket round her a little, using the chill of the night as an excuse to pull her closer as they walked to the dark edges of the school grounds. Turned out Elise liked Indiana Jones just fine.

 

***

“Woah, Sammy! You’re awesome at penny toss!” Jamie was so excited at Sammy’s prowess – he’d won more candy at that stall than every one else put together before the lady running it had suggested that maybe some of the other boys and girls might like a shot.

Sammy was pleased too; his bag was nearly full so he’d have plenty to share with Dean when they got home. He knew that the older kids didn’t think it was cool to go round for candy and Dean’d probably be off somewhere smoking. Dad hated it when Dean came back smelling like cigarettes but Sammy thought it was quite cool really; _dangerous_.

“Thanks,” Sammy smiled appreciatively at his friends “I’ve only got fifteen minutes left though.”

Jamie made a face at being reminded of the time. “Yeah, me too. Let’s do the Haunted House!”

There were a few muttered comments of “lame!” from the group, but Jamie silenced them with a look.

“Hey, it’s where everyone else’s going last and they’re all getting so much candy they’ve no space for any more!”

“How’d you know that Jamie?” one of the twins, Max, whined.

“’Cause that’s what the guy at the door of the trailer said and anyway they’ve all gone home, bonehead.”

Sammy looked around; it had gotten a lot quieter for sure. He figured it was getting late and people maybe needed to get home for eight. He looked at his watch, only ten minutes until he needed to meet Dean. “Come on guys, I want to see this place”

They headed over to the trailer – it was real big, like one of those things from the back of a semi – with boards up on the sides and a wooden staircase at the back to make it look all like a spooky ol’ house. The guy at the top of the stairs was far creepier than the trailer promised to be. Sammy had seen more than one haunted house and they never actually looked all that tumble-down way; they looked normal and ordinary and that’s what was scary.

“Come on children; come inside the creepy candy house!” The man said in a creaky voice, much higher pitched than Dad’s or even Dean’s.

The man _skittered_ around, reminding Sammy of a huge spider, his lank dark hair hanging greasily under his Victorian undertaker’s hat. His makeup was really cool – a long, almost-quivering nose blending perfectly into the man’s pale features – and his costume was slightly dusty giving him the look of someone recently raised from a tomb.

“Come on, come on kiddies, lots of candy is waiting for you.” The man’s high pitched voice sent tiny shivers down Sammy’s spine. Wow. He’d never expected to be scared here. This was _cool_.

Jamie and the twins went on in ahead of Sammy, ushered in by the elaborate arm movements of the guide, exaggerated and stop-start-quick.

“Just keep going on through… yes, yes… on you go….lots of candy just through there.”

Sammy heard Jamie exclaim and moved on in quickly, thinking of how much Dean would owe him when he came back with enough candy to last both of them until Christmas.

***

Elise had been _very_ accommodating despite the cold night; she’d just pulled closer to him, giggling as the breeze raised goose bumps on her skin. She tasted of candy corn and smelled sweet and welcoming and had been quite happy to let Dean investigate the more complicated aspects of her bra.

Dean sighed loudly as the alarm on his watch beeped once, reminding him it was time to go and collect Sammy and he pulled back a little from his bunny-girl.

“I gotta go collect my brother Elise, he’ll be waiting.” His hands curled firmly round her waist, demonstrating exactly how enthusiastic he was about going _anywhere_ right now.

Elise sighed a little and tucked herself closer to him, bunny ears tickling his nose. “I should head home too…” She curled her small hand into the front of his shirt, causing Dean to shiver as cold finger tips brushed his bare chest underneath.

Intertwined almost to the point of stumbling they made their way back to the bleachers, Dean grinning at the cheers and cat-calls they received from the rest of their group. After making sure that Elise’s friends were there, ready to walk her home, he kissed her again and whispered in her ear “ _I’ll call you tomorrow,_ ” before finally letting her go and making his way back towards the now quiet attractions and the group of parents trying to locate their offspring and take them home.

***

Just inside the door of the trailer was a big pile of candy which Sammy thought must’ve been filled up for every new group of kids coming into the trailer and he piled into it, determined to get at least as much as Jamie, Max and his twin Lee had stuffed into their bags and pockets while ignoring the “plink plink” of the stupid piped in kiddie music.

“Go through the door children, such delights await you there…” The creepy guide’s voice reverberated round the room, which didn’t look much like any kind of house at all to Sammy; they’d not made a lot of effort with it. Maybe the candy was supposed to distract them from the fact they were in a trailer with a big box in it?

“Hurry, hurry children.” The little man was standing at the top of the stairs, looking into the trailer, making weird scuttly hand movements that reminded Sammy of the lizards he and Dean had practiced catching last summer.

There was a little door, smaller than a normal house door and kinda fake looking, in the far corner, leading into the big box, and the boys headed towards it, still stuffing candy into their pockets as they walked. The main door behind them clanged shut, making all of them jump and giggle slightly at their fright. Just a stupid door. And so what if Dad said always to know your way out; this was a stupid fun house, not a _dangerous hunt situation_. Sammy felt a little uneasy, but pushed that down and moved forward with his friends into the next room.

***

Dean was getting cold and pissed. Sammy was already five minutes late, running around playing stupid games with his super-villain obsessed friends. If Dean had known he’d have taken more time leaving Elise and his friends. He huffed into the cold night air, exchanging exasperated glances with some of the other older siblings hanging around with their parents, waiting for the kids to stop playing and _come back to the car already_.

Most of the stalls were packing up, the brightly coloured lights being switched off, the fabric being rolled up and the fake spiders and pumpkins being packed away to use next year. The crazy looking dude at the haunted trailer. (And how _lame_ was that? Totally not haunted. Dean had been over the whole field earlier and had found nothing other than a spiked EMF caused by the school generator) was taking the wooden panels down from the sides of the trailer and disassembling the wooden staircase up to the back. _Come_ on _Sammy, I want to get home!_ Dean shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stepped back to the fence, eyeing it to see if it might take his weight, give him a little height from which to spy his annoying little brother.

***

The second room was dark, and Sammy’s friends kept giggling as they banged into each other. Sammy stood in the doorway from the entry room, trying to keep at least some of the light, but Jamie careened into him and knocked him out of the doorway - allowing the funny little door to close and leave the boys into total darkness. Max screamed with fright and Sammy felt a cold certainty settle in his gut. _This wasn’t right._

“Shhhhh, Shhhhh little children, it’s just a little dark. No need to scream and upset your parents, is there?” The little man’s creaking voice sounded like it was right in the room with them and Sammy knew that couldn’t be true, couldn’t sense the man anywhere here.

 _Okay, what would Dean do if he were here?_ Sammy sat down and backed up towards where he felt sure the door was. Someone, one of the twins maybe, caught his hand with their foot but Sammy found the edges of the door easy enough. Closed tight, nowhere to get purchase with his fingernails but maybe his Swiss army knife….

_Bang!_

Sammy’s heart leapt into his throat and the rest of his friends screamed as an almighty clattering set up from one side of the room they were in. Sammy tried to calm his breathing, remain focused on the task at hand… He could hear other kids; girls maybe; not that far away, sounding even more scared than he felt.

“Shhh, it’s okay, Dean’s just outside, he’ll be looking for..”

Jamie interrupted Sammy, sounding terrified but covering it badly with sarcasm; _“Dean?!_ What’ll _Dean_ do? He’s hardly going to break into a stupid broken haunted house to rescue his stupid little brother, is he?”

Sammy shut his mouth, glad that at least his friends had stopped screaming. The girls - yeah… maybe four or five of them, sounded like, a couple of guys too - were still making noises, although it was harder to hear, muffled.

 _Okay, we’re in some kinda box, inside a bigger box. And there are lots of people in here and they’re still screaming so there must be enough air. Okay. Yeah…I can do this…_ Sammy opened the strongest blade on his knife and slotted it in the space between door and frame, running it up to see if he hit the resistance of a lock.

***

Dean was getting more than pissed. Sammy was making him _worried_. He was so going to kick his brother’s ass.

Dean walked over to Josh, who was leaning sullenly against his parent’s station wagon. “Hey dude, the twins still out playing too?”

Josh rolled his eyes as he peeled himself off the crap-colored vehicle. “Yeah, stupid little…” He broke off as his mother glared at them. “Yeah, they are. It’ll be that Jamie kid that’s got them pretending they’re in a secret lair or something dumb.”

“Yeah… crazy kid… look, I’m gonna go look for them; if Sammy turns up before I get back could you keep an eye on him?”

“Sure, like I’d be able to separate them _anyway_.”

“Thanks man.” With that, Dean made his way back into the main part of the field, looking away from the headlights of the cars and floodlights from the school to try and gain his night sight.

Away from the families at the gate it was quiet and still, bar the slight banging of the haunted house being dismantled. Dean figured that shouting for Sammy would only gather unwanted attention, so he’d need to work out where Sammy might be. Maybe round the trailer... It was about all that was left in the field, and Sammy wasn’t likely to have gone wandering too far without telling Dean first. Anyway, the kids seemed to like hanging around watching other people work… Yeah that’d be a good place to start.

***

There _was_ some kind of lock about half way up the door, although Sammy hadn’t heard any kind of locking noise, hadn’t noticed a bolt. Well, that was what he needed to get through. On his knees now, he braced against the door and tried to work the lock.

“Sammy, what are you doing?” Jamie whined, “are you breaking something? Sounds like you’re breaking something… If you break something you’ll need to pay for it…”

 

Sammy didn’t bother to reply. Daddy broke into places _all the time_ and no one ever knew. It wasn’t _that_ hard. _Just a little more that way, just_ …Sammy let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as the lock gave and clicked back. Using the knife as a lever, Sammy pulled the door open. It was just as dark out here as it was in the boxed room, but he could hear the other kids screaming slightly more clearly now

He felt a sudden cold shiver run down from the top of his spine as the little man began to speak again, in a sibilant whisper, “little children, soon it will be time for us to go. Mmmmh, look at you… all fattened up with candy….”

Sammy hugged himself tightly and tried to stop shivering. He shouldn’t be in the box, more space to move was better. He made his way gingerly out of the door, feeling along the wall for any difference in texture, any breaks in the smooth surface.

***

Scouting round the trailer Dean noticed a couple of full pillow cases of candy lying on the ground where the stair had been. _Stupid greedy kids, so much damn candy at home they just left their Halloween spoils lying in a field_. He reckoned that making Sammy carry that home too would be a suitable punishment. Dean checked under the loose sidings lying next to the trailer, no little boys hiding there…

Suddenly there was an almighty _thump_ from the inside of the trailer followed by a hastily cut off, muffled cry. Dean hissed. _Sammy_!

***

Sammy shoved his fist in his mouth, frozen and barely breathing. _Rookie mistake, falling over something he couldn’t see. Dad would be so pissed_. His head throbbed slightly where he’d hit it off the wall of the trailer.

 _Tap tap tap. Tap thump. Thump thump. Tap tap thump. Thump thump thump. Thump tap thump_.

Sammy jumped at the noise, at the vibrations running from the metal shell of the trailer into his head. He counted the heartbeats pounding in his ears, hoping that whatever it was would go away.

_Tap tap tap. Tap thump. Thump thump._

It wasn’t going away. But… but, listening to it Sammy felt strangely calmer, more at home.

_Tap tap tap. Tap thump. Thump thump. Tap tap thump. Thump thump thump. Thump tap thump_

He grinned suddenly in the darkness. Dean. Thinking hard Sammy tried to remember their Morse lessons and banged out a quick affirmative to Dean’s enquiry.

_Thump tap thump thump._

A furious banging interrupted him, Sammy listened and counted, translating Dean’s message. Okay, Sammy could get his friends, yeah. Everything was okay now. Dean was there. Everything was going to be okay.

***

Dean leaned against the side of the trailer, gathering his thoughts. _Was Sammy in there by accident?_ He knew he was hidden in the shadows, and decided to check things out a little more before he broke cover. The wind changed direction; picking up a little and no longer blowing across the scent of burnt sugar from the candy apples but a less pleasant smell of mold with sharp undertones of sulfur.

Dean swore silently, running through all the words that Dad would have had him doing extra chores for using. _Something demonic. Great._ He loosed his whip from its tie at his hip and started to wet the leather with holy water. That done he replaced the bullets in his gun with the special silver bullets he and Sammy had made two weekends previously. He stepped out from his protective shadow, as armed as he could be and stalked round to the front of the trailer where the ugly little man was still capering around, dismantling the wooden frontage.

***

Sammy hissed through the darkness to his friends; “come on guys, we’ve got to try and get outta here. There’s something wrong.”

Jamie sniffed, obviously in tears, “It’s _dangerous._ We all heard you fall. M’not going _anywhere_.”

“Come on Jamie, there’s still all that candy out here. Might as well get everything we can, right?” Sammy tried to make his voice sound like Dad’s when he was coaxing them through stitches or a loosened tooth. He let out a silent sigh as he heard his friends moving towards him. “This way guys, just come towards my voice.”

***

“Christo.” Dean barely breathed the word at the creature’s back but its reaction proved that it was much more demon than man as it turned towards him, eyes black, hissing like a cat and grabbing out towards him with long, sharp fingernails.

Dean didn’t hesitate, didn’t even think, just let muscle memory guide him as he coiled the holy-water-wet whip round the little man’s neck, pulling it tight as it hissed and smoked and his target struggled to loosen it - the smell of sulfur becoming stronger in the cold night air.

Kill quickly and cleanly, that’s what hunters did. Never torture anything, never give them a chance to escape, but he had to know. “Why the kids? Why did…?”

Gasping and struggling, the creature shot him a black look of pure contempt. “Because they don’t deserve to live.”

The cold evil in its words and the thick cloud of sulfur made Dean feel nauseous, but he knew what he had to do.

***

Sammy had made his way round the walls until he found the door to the outside and was working his blade into the tiny gap, trying to lever the bolt up and open when he heard three shots ringing out in quick succession.

“What was _THAT!! ?_ ” Jamie squealed, clinging onto Sammy’s arm.

Sammy gently loosened his friend’s grip. “Sounded like a car backfiring to me. You get all the candy yet?”

***  
The combination of holy water and silver would hurt a lot of supernatural creatures and it seemed that this Child-catcher _thing_ was no different from the countless creatures that Dad had wasted over the years. Dean watched as it dissolved into dark, roiling smoke and vanished up into the night sky. Suddenly he became aware of movement and shouting from the corner of the field; the parents reacting to the gun shots. Dean slung his gun back into its Indy holster, glad that the duct tape round the butt would make it look less than real, and melted back round the trailer, making his way towards the door at the rear.

***  
Sammy was worried. Dean didn’t fire his gun unless there was real danger; _what if his big brother was hurt?_ He needed to get out, find Dean.

The bolt was _heavy_ , a long bar of steel running from top to bottom of the trailer, and there was very little space where Sammy could gain purchase on it. Sammy, however, wasn’t a Winchester for nothing. Dad’s games always had elements where he really had to struggle, put in _the effort_ , and this wasn’t any different.. He felt it slip a little, release from its hole in the floor and he pushed at the big metal door, slumping against it and nearly falling as it finally opened - letting in what little light there was left in the field.

“Guys, we can get out now, come on.” Not that he needed to tell his friends; Jamie was practically on top of him in his efforts to get out.

***

The appearance of the three little boys from the back of the trailer had distracted the parents a little from looking for the source of the banging, and Jamie’s insistence that it was a car backfiring seemed to be accepted. Why, Dean couldn’t figure out; guns and engines really didn’t sound the same at all; but he was grateful none the less. Sammy had plunged back into the dark and found more little “rooms” further into the trailer; a further seven kids made their traumatized way back to their parents.

Questions were _being asked_ , loudly, as to how all the children managed to end up locked in the trailer, in the dark, who was in charge of it and who had arranged for the damn thing to be here anyway? In the noisy confusion Dean (who had snagged one of those extra sacks of candy) and Sammy headed away, making their way home to catalog their spoils.

“Jeeze Sammy, you had to get yourself captured by a demon, huh? Looks like you’ll be getting extra training when Dad gets back…”

“Dad’s not gonna know though, is he?” Sammy grinned, almost guilelessly, up at Dean.

Seeing the wicked quirk of his baby brother’s mouth Dean almost choked on his gummi worm.

“Dean, did you steal that candy? That’s Jamie’s you know.” Sammy would have done better at sounding earnest and cross if his head hadn’t been buried into his own candy sack.

“Figured it was payment due little brother,” Dean grinned. “Anyway, I’m sure Jamie’s Mom’s got some carrots or something he can have…”

Sammy giggled and offered his brother a handful of M&Ms. “Do you want my red ones? Jamie says they’re what superheroes eat.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dean’s morse code is: _Sam U OK_ , Sam’s is the much simpler _Y_.


End file.
